Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Wolf comment period reopens

By Mark Wilcox

May 1, 2012 --From
today until May 16, Wyomingites will have perhaps a final chance to
voice their opinion through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the
proposal to remove Endangered Species Act protection for gray wolves in
the state.

According to a release, the service is reopening the
comment period for the proposal to "allow all interested parties an
opportunity to comment on the proposed rule." Those who have already
submitted their comments need not resubmit, as those comments have
already been incorporated into the public record.

For years
ranchers, hunters and other opponents have had a bone to pick with
environmentalists, state agencies and federal entities about the listing
and reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone. Many argue that the
reintroduction tipped the balance on a food chain rebalanced by hunting
and other herd management outside of Yellowstone's park boundaries. And
many ranchers argue their own herds are being culled by the reintroduced
species.

For that reason, the state management plan allows for
indiscriminate killing of wolves in "permanent predator areas" which
blanket the state except the northwest corner, largely comprised of
Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.

"We
believe few of the wolf packs in predator portions of Wyoming would
persist to the end of 2012," the proposal states, "although some
individuals from these packs could survive as lone animals. Similarly,
some of the current lone wolves in the predator area would be killed."

Seeking
to strike a balance between the opposing sides, Wyoming has drafted
various plans to change the status of wolves. The current proposal would
allow hunters in the management area to kill 52 wolves as trophy game
animals next fall as the endangered status is lifted. The management
area immediately surrounds Yellowstone and Grand Teton as far south as
Alpine and as far east as Greybull. Management area kills, factored in
with management removals, vehicle collisions and poaching would bring an
estimated total of 98 dead wolves. Currently Wyoming has a population
of approximately 270 wolves, including 19 breeding pairs.

Gov.
Matt Mead recently reported at a press conference that the plan was
based on "sound science," but the comment period will be reopened
because of concerns addressed by one of five plan reviewers.

"Part
of the reason we're cautious is it's not instantaneous reporting," Mead
said, referring to the fact that more than 52 licenses will be issued
but the season closes when 52 wolves are taken.

Opponents point out hunters have 72 hours to report a kill, meaning more could be taken in the interim.

"This
must be reduced to a maximum of 36 hours because any investigator knows
that time passage makes investigations much more difficult," the
Biodiversity Conservation Alliance argues on its website. "In today's
world communications are fast and almost ubiquitous."

In
Jackson, officials recently euthanized one white wolf when it strayed
too close to a residential area near several schools, fueling the fire
for many to support the efforts to reduce the population.

If
the proposal is finalized after the public comment window, the species
status as a nonessential experimental population designation (earned
when reintroduced) would be removed and future management for this
species would be turned over to the appropriate state, tribal or federal
wildlife managers.

"Wyoming's recent approval of a revised state
law, regulations and management plan amendment are important milestones
in our cooperative effort to return management of this iconic species
to the states," said Steve Guertin, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
regional director of the Mountain-Prairie region. "These documents
demonstrate a strong commitment to maintain the Wyoming wolf population
well above minimal recovery levels after delisting. Responsible state
management will ensure that this remarkable conservation success endures
for future generations."

Written comments regarding the proposal may be submitted electronically at http://www.regulations.gov.
In the enter keyword or ID box, enter FWS—R6—ES—2011—0039, which is the
docket number for this rulemaking. Then, in the search panel at the top
of the screen, under the document type heading, check the box next to
proposed rules to locate this document. You may submit a comment by
clicking on “Submit a Comment.”

Comments must be received on or before May 16, 2012. The service will post all comments on http://www.regulations.gov. This generally means the agency will post any personal information provided through the process.

The film offers an abbreviated history of the relationship between wolves and people—told from the wolf’s perspective—from a time when they coexisted to an era in which people began to fear and exterminate the wolves.

The return of wolves to the northern Rocky Mountains has been called one of America’s greatest conservation stories. But wolves are facing new attacks by members of Congress who are gunning to remove Endangered Species Act protections before the species has recovered.

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Inescapably, the realization was being borne in upon my preconditioned mind that the centuries-old and universally accepted human concept of wolf character was a palpable lie... From this hour onward, I would go open-minded into the lupine world and learn to see and know the wolves, not for what they were supposed to be, but for what they actually were.

-Farley Mowat, Never Cry Wolf

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“If you look into the eyes of a wild wolf, there is something there more powerful than many humans can accept.” – Suzanne Stone